Tuesday, July 28, 2015

1. arrival

A
week ago Friday I took off for Canada. You might remember last
summer I went to the Oregon coast for a week with some women friends,
some of whom I had spent a week with at the residency in upper state
NY the previous summer and some of whom I was meeting for the first
time. It was originally just a one time thing but we had such a good
time that we decided to do it again this year. Denise and Natalie,
who live in Calgary Canada, volunteered to host the horde.

As
it turned out, the Group of 7 became the Gang of 4. Leigh from
Australia couldn't swing the trip this year, Abi from Portland had a
job come up at the last minute, and Terry from Portland was still
trying to sell her house.

I
arrived a little after noon (Catharine, several hours later) to joyous hugs. On the way back to our command center, Denise's house, we
stopped and had Korean for lunch. While Denise was
preparing for the small welcoming party she had planned for that
evening, Natali gave me a quick tour of ACAD, Alberta College of Art
and Design, where she is a tenured instructor in the glass
department.

It's really an awful building, all gray and concrete inside with long hallways from which windowless classrooms sprout. (I wish I had
thought to take pictures but as it turned out, I didn't take nearly
as many pictures as I did last year and many of those didn't come out
well.) Nat says she hopes the drab surroundings inspire her students
to greater creativity.

After
Catharine arrived, she and I finally tossed a coin to see who would
get the guest room and who would get the basement room, both equally
fine accommodations, because neither of us would make the first
choice. Then we settled in and relaxed with martinis while the
guests, friends of Denise's and all very interesting and talented
women, arrived.

Sitting
on the patio as the guests arrive while Denise slaves away in the
kitchen.